Now home to the ZKM and representing the largest building in Karlsruhe, Hall Building A was formally a key production site of the Industriewerke Karlsruhe Augsburg [Industrial Plant Karlsruhe Augsburg] (IWKA). In the years between 1980 and 1994, an increasing number of artists set up their workshops and studios in the vacant industrial buildings, initially with the authorization of the various owners, but later without such authorization as a politically conceived act. A lively cultural scene then began to emerge on the fringes of the conventional museum and gallery business, which then presented Hall Building A as a forum for art to a broad public.

A series of artistic group actions carried out in the years between 1986 and 1993 culminated in »Projekt 99, 9% out of Empty Space«, as conceived and planned by Georg Schalla, initiated by Uwe Lindau, Ralf Urban Bühler and Reinhard Wonner and supported for the most part by then Director of the Badischen Kunstverein [Baden Civic Art Association ], Andreas Vowinckel. The aim of the project group 99, 9 % e. V. was to push through a plan for the future usage of the atrium as a space for art production. It was for this project, which comprised part of the municipal cultural program that the Tamuté Company Dance Theatre, Zurich, was to play a central role.

The exhibition BEFORE THE ZKM - Project 99,9% and Art in the Hall Building 1980-1994 reflects the historical situation on the IWKA grounds by way of artistic positions from the period prior to its being converted into the Center for Art and Media. Approximately 120 pictures, sculptures, photographs and videos produced in the years between 1980 and 1994 in the Hall Building, and on the former factory premises are presented.